I laid in bed this morning not wanting to have to get up and take on the day. “What a weekend,” I could hear my mind remind myself. I was tired. Not just physical, but mentally. All too often some, those who don’t really know me, see me as an extrovert.. mainly because I have learned the skill of an extrovert.. But, as I have learned time and time again, I do not gain energy around people.. I loose it. And, often time after long people filled weekends, I am ready and in need of some down time. Some alone time, some time to refuel.
This fall I have had more of a need for the down time then even in the past. I suspect it is being sick that makes it more so…. or maybe it is my age, that place I have come to where I now know that I am not only in the need of impressing anyone, but I have a better understanding and acceptance that the likely-hood of impressing anyone are slight, so why worry.
As tired as I feel, and empty as I seem, as I laid in bed this morning once again I became aware of what it is that does fuel me. I love being around those that live within their passions. And boy was my week full of that.
First and foremost, the fact that I get to live life with a best friend who lives that every day, is mind blowing. It’s a hard life for sure.. the days are long, the chores never really done, and the care and keeping of animals and children keep her on the brink all the time… but, wow.. she is brilliant at it.
Then, Thursday took me to Colfax Washington, a place that has my heart for so many reasons, not all of them I have yet to find the words to share why… But, it does… I love the Palouse.. It has a special tug on me. I found myself there. I had my heart broken there. I learned to dream there. My mind loves to play in the wheat fields there…. just to name a few. But, on Thursday, I got to go and connect with our oldest son’s kindergarten teacher and her family who have now opened a Grain Mill called Joseph’s Grainery… I love their story, their ingenuity, and their commitment to family and quality. From there, my husband and I caught up with our friend Tom Riedner and learned what he and mutual friend (our boys’ God-Uncle) Greg Nolan are doing as they begin a grass-roots organization to feed the hungry in their own back yards….through Homestead Ministries….. Then it was a mad-dash back to Prosser and to the winery in which I have been blessed to work, this summer… Barrel Springs…. where the winemaker/owner and his girlfriend are not only brilliant at what they do, but they allow me, and my mind an amazing place to play.
As I lay, almost comatose last night, watching for the millionth time “Under the Tuscan Sun,” I was reminded again at how so often life turns out.. how we find that if we look close enough, we really do have everything we have asked for… If we are willing to just see it without the packages we thought it would come in.
I can sometimes feel as if I am so far away from the life I dreamed for myself, but in reality, I am right where I dreamed I would be… Life’s a funny thing sometimes.
A Cowgirl Called 